


Old Forest Nonsense

by greenleaf_starbright



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Ent poetry, Gen, Poetry, Quenya, linguistic whimsy, nonsense poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 58
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenleaf_starbright/pseuds/greenleaf_starbright
Summary: Bombadillish nonsense verse, on the origin of Tom Bombadil's name. Translation from Old Entish.





	Old Forest Nonsense

Tambaro redcap, beetle hunter,

bites the branches with its billing.

Tamba knocks and knocks again,

tamba taps, tambaro trilling

Tumba deep within the valley

knows the ways that are forbidden.

Tumbadil, friend in the darkness;

tumba ilya, all that's hidden

Tombadil, a welcome voice;

tombo, a hill-ringing gong;

tomba, tompë, is the Word;

Tom Bombadil, master of song

**Author's Note:**

> A few years ago, I did some work on theorising that the name "Tom Bombadil" is a familiar-sounding Hobbit name for something in another language, like tumbadil or tombobadil or suchforth. I lost my notes, and have no idea what became of them.
> 
> I tried to reconstruct it with the Quenya dictionary, but the list of sounds felt Bombadillish and - hey dol! - a poem was born. It's built around Quenya words that sound as if they could have formed part of an ancient name that has survived as Tom Bombadil, combined with what they mean. Bombadil is oldest, and so there are many stories of this true name.
> 
> My original notes were an attempt at serious linguistics; this is not, and I haven't looked into whether "proper" Tolkien scholars have thought about Bombadil's name in real detail, or whether these words would plausibly mutate in such ways, or looked in a Quenya grammar. It's a Bombadil poem, and that means the fun of the sounds come first. 
> 
> Perhaps this is not a song that Tom would sing himself, but a memory-verse the Ents would sing about him. Whatever it is, it pleases me greatly.
> 
> You can look up the words in your Quenya dictionary; a *tambaro* is a woodpecker


End file.
